Frampton Court is a Grade I listed country house and estate of about in
Frampton-on-Severn
Frampton on Severn is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. The population is 1,432.
Geography
The village is approximately south of Gloucester, at . It lies on the east bank of the River Severn, and on the west bank of the ...
,
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, England. It has been owned by the Clifford family since the 11th century. The main buildings are the 18th century Frampton Court and, on the opposite side of the village green, Manor Farm. The gardens at Frampton Court have a
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
orangery
An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...
and ornamental canal in the style of
William Halfpenny. The two houses, barn and orangery are all Grade I listed buildings in their own right, while the Gatepiers and Gates are Grade II* listed.
History
The main estate originated from a lease of land granted to William Clifford and his family in 1320.
[ The ]Feudal barony of Clifford
The feudal barony of Clifford (or Honour of Clifford) was a feudal barony with its ''caput baroniae'' at Clifford Castle in Herefordshire, England.
Descent
de Tony
The Domesday Book of 1086 records that Clifford Castle was then held by Ralph ...
had previously had their seat at Clifford Castle
Clifford Castle is a ruined castle in the village of Clifford which lies 2.5 miles to the north-east of Hay-on-Wye in the Wye Valley in Herefordshire, England (). It was the ''caput'' of the feudal barony of Clifford, a Marcher Lordship (owing a ...
in Herefordshire
Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...
. A moat once surrounded the original estate, but was built over by John Clifford in 1651 when a new brick house was built. This was rebuilt in 1731 using Bath stone.[ The architect is not known but may have been ]John Strahan
John Strahan was an architect working in Bristol and Bath, England in the early 18th century. He died around 1740.
List of works
* Shakespeare Public House, Bristol (1725)
* Combe Hay Manor Combe Hay 1728 to 1730
* Frampton Court, Frampton-on-Se ...
or Nathaniel Ireson
Nathaniel Ireson (1685– 18 April 1769) was a potter, architect and mason best known for his work around Wincanton in Somerset, England.
He was probably born in Ansley, Warwickshire.
He rebuilt much of the centre of Wincanton following a fire in ...
. The gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
garden house and canal were added in the 1750s, when the dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
may also have been built.[
In 1893, the property was put on the market following the death of Henry James Clifford, and described as having ten bedrooms, four dressing rooms, and stabling for up to twelve horses. The Clifford family resumed ownership of the premises in the early 20th century.]
Since the 1980s the grounds have been the location for the annual Frampton Country Fair.
Architecture
The estate is centred on the two principal houses set either side of the Green: Frampton Court, a Palladian
Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...
house of the early 1730s often attributed to the Bristol architect, John Strahan
John Strahan was an architect working in Bristol and Bath, England in the early 18th century. He died around 1740.
List of works
* Shakespeare Public House, Bristol (1725)
* Combe Hay Manor Combe Hay 1728 to 1730
* Frampton Court, Frampton-on-Se ...
, and Manor Farmhouse, of the mid-15th century with a contemporary wool barn[ that was restored by the Cliffords.
The primary building, Frampton Court, is stone built with the symmetrical front of the building having a central ]pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
with four ionic pilaster
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
s. to each side are smaller wings each of which has a chimney stack with an arched opening containing bells. Frampton Court has Jacobean panelled rooms with tiled fireplaces. It holds a collection of 18th century furniture and china. There are also a collection of Victorian watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
s known as the Frampton Flora. These representations of local wild flowers were painted by various members of the Clifford Family in the 19th century.
To the northeast of the main house is Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
garden house, which is also known as the orangery
An orangery or orangerie was a room or a dedicated building on the grounds of fashionable residences of Northern Europe from the 17th to the 19th centuries where orange and other fruit trees were protected during the winter, as a very lar ...
, which was built in the mid 18th century. It consists of three octagonal towers, the largest of which has a small cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
. They are joined by single bay which has the front door. In front of the building is an ornamental canal, which is long and wide. The canal may be the remains of the moat around the earlier house. The building was repaired in the 20th century when the effects of an earlier fire were uncovered.
Within the grounds of Frampton Court close to the entrance from the green is an octagonal dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...
dating from the mid 18th century. There is also a granary and store at Manor Farm with a dovecote lantern on the roof.
Manor Farm was built, on the site of an earlier house, in the 15th century and added to in subsequent centuries. It has a courtyard plan with the service wings forming a "U" shape around the courtyard. The timber framing of the building is visible from inside and outside. The interior contains several stone fireplaces, one of which may have been brought into the house from elsewhere. The attached barn may have originally been built as a wool store. The timber-framed building was constructed in the 15th century. The seven bay barn has a flagstone
Flagstone (flag) is a generic flat stone, sometimes cut in regular rectangular or square shape and usually used for paving slabs or walkways, patios, flooring, fences and roofing. It may be used for memorials, headstones, facades and other co ...
floor and an arch braced roof.
Gardens and parkland
The gardens and surrounding parkland are Grade II* listed on the .
Earlier gardens were replaced around 1806 from which the walled garden and yew hedges survive. The earlier garden included a parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
and kitchen garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
. The current park is approximately by and is mostly grass with trees. South east of the house are lakes which were developed from earlier gravel pit
A gravel pit is an open-pit mine for the extraction of gravel. Gravel pits often lie in river valleys where the water table is high, so they may naturally fill with water to form ponds or lakes. Old, abandoned gravel pits are normally used either ...
s. Surrounding the grounds are stone walls with ornate symmetrical gates and gatepiers.
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
External links
Official site
{{coord, 51.768, -2.365, type:landmark, display=title
Country houses in Gloucestershire
Grade I listed houses in Gloucestershire
Palladian architecture
1730s architecture
Houses completed in the 18th century
Parks and open spaces in Gloucestershire
Grade II* listed parks and gardens in Gloucestershire